LAKEWOOD, Colo. — In an unassuming box in an unassuming field on government-owned land, a colony of bees is busy at work.
At the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, four beehives are not just surviving but thriving. This land is one of 11 sites across the country where the government is using its property to promote pollinator health.
“There's so many properties out there that we see as gray where nothing's happening, underutilized spaces. And we want to be part of this movement called the gray to green movement, where we're actively using those spaces for things like pollinator habitat,” said Noah Wilson-Rich, the founder and CEO of the Best Bees Company.
Best Bees is the most extensive research beekeeping service in the country. It contracts with federal facilities to perform upkeep on the hives and study their progression.
It tests for DNA in the honey to try to understand which foliage the bees are more attracted to and then leverages that information to encourage areas to plant more to promote pollinator health.
The company operates not only on federal facilities but also looks for homeowners, office buildings, hospitality groups and more to set up and manage hives for. Along with beekeeping, Best Bees is also working with the government to promote pollinator habitat gardens on rooftops.
“Anybody who eats food or breathes air needs bees,” said Wilson-Rich. “Bees promote plants that take in carbon through photosynthesis. So that's how we have oxygen to breathe and yet bees are dying at a crazy alarming rate.”
The company was operating at the Denver Federal Center. Now, the General Services Administration has its own resident beekeeper and its own hives. All of this is a government effort to save the bees, which contribute an estimated $25 billion to the U.S. economy annually.
“Last winter, about half the hives and Colorado died. Because it was kind of a hard winter with some strange weather patterns,” said Peter Marples, the Denver Federal Center’s resident beekeeper.
All of this stems from a federal memorandum from 2014 to come up with a national strategy to promote the health of pollinators and reduce the impact of pests, pathogens, reduced habitat, lack of nutritional resources and exposure to pesticides.
The Denver Federal Center is also in the process of planting 350 new trees to help the bees out.
“We as a government agency, GSA, we want to lead our nation and help to promote other ways that our public counterparts can also contribute to pollination growth,” said Edward Dascanio, “We plan on planting cherry trees and all types of flowering trees for pollination. We found out that through genetic testing of the honey from the bees, we were able to find their habits and what they were eating.”
If all goes well on the 11 federal sites, beehives could pop up on federal properties across the country.
